







I think Jeff Moy’s ENTIRE CAREER just revolves around that run as “LOSH” artist.
LIGHTNING LASS (Ayla Ranzz, aka Light Lass, Spark, Gossamer, Live Wire)
Silver Age Ayla Ranzz:
-Ayla is introduced as the twin sister of Garth, aka Lightning Lad, given the same powers from the same incident that empowered her two brothers. She was actually introduced after Garth DIED, disguising herself as Garth for some Superdickery or something, but the ruse was revealed, and she joined the Legion properly as Lightning Lass. When Garth was resurrected, she would have been taken off the team, but Dream Girl used Naltorian science to transform her into “Light Lass”, giving her gravity-affecting powers instead.
In the Legion of Super-Heroes books I have, Ayla is treated very much like the “Bratty Younger Sibling”- emotional, spiteful, kind of annoying, and very passionate. She has a lengthy relationship with Timber Wolf, but it ends when he is caught embracing Saturn Girl, ironically, due to her feeling his passion for Ayla, finding that it dwarfs her own feelings for her husband… this actually bugs me reading about it, because it seems clear that SG is mistaking the youthful “puppy love” for the true love she feels for Garth, but the story never mentions it and it’s glossed over very quickly- given that Ayla & TW break up for good afterwards, it’s clear they were never THAT in love in the first place!


Light Lass is eventually kidnapped by Lightning Lord and the Legion of Super-Villains, and set to be executed- however, when Mekt Ranzz fires millions of volts of electricity into his own sister, he re-empowers her as Lightning Lass! The “Five Years Later” period reveals that Ayla is in one of the first homosexual relationships from a superhero- she’s in a same-sex relationship with Shrinking Violet! Eventually, the “SW6” Clones are discovered, and this version of Ayla, possessing the “Light Lass” powers, takes the name Gossamer.
Reboot Era:
-Ayla, called “Spark” in this continuity, joined the Legion as a replacement for Live Wire (Garth). Eventually, the “one member per planet” rule was taken away, and both were now Legionnaires. During time travel to the 20th Century, she encounters the Source, which gives her the “Light Lass” powers. Distraught over this, she is killed attempting to re-empower herself, but she’s quickly resurrected thanks to Garth repeatedly blasting her (you know, the old “shoot them with lightning until they’re okay” trick. Black Adam knows this one). She later entered a relationship with Chameleon, who’d nursed a crush on her for years. Near the end of continuity, she’d taken the name Live Wire after Garth was killed, but re-took the name Spark, after being told that she’d best honor her brother by being herself.
Modern Ayla:
-The “Threeboot” Ayla was Light Lass again, with her “exchanging lightning for gravity powers” situation being backstory. Here, she was the team’s “Party Girl”, having relationships with Ultra Boy, Timber Wolf, Sun Boy & Karate Kid- Brainiac-5 comments that it’s aggravating how somebody with the ability to negate one of the fundamental forces of the universe is in the hands of someone who treats things so flippantly.
When Infinite Crisis brought the original Legion back, Ayla was thought-dead, but was later revealed to be the power source behind Legion Headquarters. She restarted her relationship with Timber Wolf, but later, Paul Levitz’s new Legion book featured her restarting the relationship with Shrinking Violet.
Ayla is, overall, one of the great “Odd Members Out” in Legion history, giving her a lot more freedom from the writers. I mean, it’s rather unusual to have a team member who’s not only a sibling of another member, but one with the same POWERS, too! It makes her somewhat unique, and you can see the writers fighting this potential redundancy, as you don’t really need TWO lightning-powered kids from Winath on the same squad. This fixes itself with her more distinctive personality- she’s probably the least-mature member of the team. But while she acts a bit more childish and immature, she showcases some great bravery and a mind for more serious things when she needs to. Thinking about it, she and Garth seem to have aspects of Johnny Storm’s personality- he has the fiery temper and rage, while Ayla has the immaturity and impulsiveness. Though really, she’s not one of my faves- mixing dull powers with a more low-key version of immaturity, to the point where she’d probably be a better character if they ramped it up a bit.








TIMBER WOLF (Brin Londo, aka Lone Wolf, Furball)
Silver Age Timber Wolf:
-Every bio of Brin Londo must start out by stating that yes, the carnivore-named guy with the recognizable pointed haircut actually PRE-DATES Marvel’s Wolverine, not only by origin, but he even had that haircut first. It’s generally accepted that Dave Cockrum (who worked on the Legion book, and gave Brin that haircut) was thinking “Timber Wolf” when he designed Logan’s recognizable mug. The “lone wolf” personality and somewhat grouchy nature is probably a big inspiration, too.
Brin Londo gained low-level super-powers due to an experiment of his father’s, joining the Legion in its early days (1964), but not really getting up to much. After a long relagionship with Light Lass, they break up when she finds him embracing Saturn Girl on a frozen asteroid (it’s complicated- they were sharing an emotional reaction based off of their love for other people, Saturn Girl being a telepath and all). He was later turned into the largely-mindless dog-creature Furball thanks to Doctor Regulus. He is “cured” by Darkseid, as a means of sentencing him to death, but this is cured indirectly by a super-powered being who befriends Brin, turning him into more ofa hybrid form. A Timber Wolf miniseries starts up around this time, set in the 20th Century. Ultimately, he returns to the future in a slightly furry state.
Later Timber Wolves:
-The Reboot Timber Wolf is a minor character, and appears to hail from Rimbor, like Ultra Boy. A rival gang leader, he and Ultra Boy compete for the affections of Apparition, but ultimately stepped aside, as he thought of her more as a friend. In the “Threeboot” era, he was MUCH more lupine, prone to Wolverine-style “Berserker Rages” and stuff. Here, he was extremely defensive of Princess Projectra, backing her up even when she did evil things. Post-Infinite Crisis, he had reconciled with Lightning Lass (though she later got into a relationship with Shrinking Violet once more), and later showed up in the Legion Lost “New 52” series, before it was cancelled.


Poor Timber Wolf. He’s the Hydrox cookie to Wolverine’s Oreo.
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